Buying a Short Sale Using Your VA Loan

If you are in the market to buy a home, a short sale could be a great option – especially if you have VA loan benefits and you live in the Phoenix Arizona area. As of August 2010, there are an incredible amount of homes on the market for sale that could be sold as a short sale, or are already approved for a short sale.

One of the requirements of buying a short sale home or any home for that matter with your VA Loan eligibility is that you will have to get an appraisal on the home. The short sale price will have to match up with what the VA appraiser says the home is worth. The appraisal is a good thing for you if you are the one buying the home because this will help price the home at a fair market price and prevent you from buying a home that is over priced or even physically trashed.

Where buying a home on a short sale is different than buying a foreclosed home is that with a foreclosed home, the lender who owns the home is not likely going to do any repairs on the home if need be. Whereas with a short sale, you may have the opportunity to get some home repairs done by the homeowner in the case where the VA appraiser identifies some problems with the home that would prevent the approval of a VA loan.